New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-17
TIE RIVAL TYPES OF YACHTS.
CUTTER AND sLoor BOTH VANISHING.

THE TWO MODELS ARE GRADUALLY AssIMiLATING-
YACHTING HERE AND IN ENGLAND.
1t has been a dull week in yachting circles
Much has been talked about but little has beer
done. In these waters the most noteworthy in
cidents have been the arrival Of tile Mayfower
now owned by F. ID. Morgan. and hcnceforth to
hail from NewYorl: the launching OF T. Spohord
Pearsall's sloop yacht. the Banshce, from the
yard OF Poillon Brothers, Brooklyn and the De'
ginning of the cruise Of the Atlantic Yacht Club,
the squadron starting from New-Rochclle yester-
day for the point Of rendezvous, Black Rock.
The Ranshce WINS desgncd by A. Cary Smith.
She is an example Of the modern tendency to
build racing sloops with little less beam. more
draft and as much outside ballast as can be slowed
there. How far this tendency has grown In
recent years can be readily seen by comparing
the dimensions of the Bansbee with those of the
Madcap designed by A. Cary Smith in 1875. and
in her day one of the crack sloops Of her class
The Panshee is 40 feet long on the water line !;
the Madcap 42i2 The Panshee is IA feet beam !;
the Madcap 10 feet and three inches The Ban
shee has draft Of feet. the Madcap had only
feet The Madcap had pretty full stern and
q nearly straight stern-nost the Banshee tapers
good deal aft and has a ralxing stern-post. In
rig and sails the differences are just striking
Of sails on the Banshee closely resembles that Of
the modern cutter. The Madcap had no outside
ballast: the Ranshee has tons on her keel
This comparison suggested the query: What will
be the ultimate points OF difference between the
"beamy' cutter. the favorite type of cutter in
these waters. and the deep draft sloop' That of
course suggested talk with A. Cary Smith, with
whose achievements in designing yachts every
yachtsman is acquainted
Practically. said Mr. Smith, the only point
Of difference, IL the tendency goes to pinch the
sloop In the beam and give her more draft will
be the centre-board Between 'beamy' cutter
and keel sloop there is now practically differ
ence whatever. But it might have been conf
IDENTITY ANTICIPATED that the result of the compe-
tition between sloops and cutters would be the
building Of sloops more like cutters and cutters
more like sloops. When the Thistle comes here
imagine most people well be surprised to see how
much like the Volunteer she will look. Both have
long, overhanging, taperng sterns and curved
stems, and the three feet more beam or there
abouts which the Volunteer has will hardly be
perceptible to the ordinary observer
There has been much discussion of rather
Improbable sort and there will be good deal
more Of 1t, as to whether American designers Of
yachts or English designers have done more Dor
rowing from the other-whether. to put it in
nutshell, the Thistle has taken more points from
the Aoop, or the Volunteer more points from the
cutter. Mr.. Smiths opinion on this point is that
of practical man. "Ihe yacht builder he
said, simply Obcys the memorable logic Of
events to use q phrase Of Lincoln lie doesn't
hesitate to profit by On idea, no matter where it
comes from In q general way / suppose it
might be said that we have induced the Englishman
to put mere beam into his cutter, and he has
induced us to give more depth to our sloops. In
the mere enumeration Of points, perhaps, the
English would come out ahead the slender, Ia
pering stern is British; so also is the outside
ballast instead Of inside ballast. and it is inds-
putable that Il we haven't copied the cutter rig
we have hit upon something much like it, But
generous rivals take no count OF these matters
each simply tries to build the fastest yacht
In England rules governing yacht racing were
so designed as to discourage all experiments ex-
cept In one direction, since under them only one
type Of vessel the narrow cutter. had any chance
of being successful Not until the rules were
modified could "beamy' cutter like the Thistle
successfully compete with the narrower boats.
Before the Galatea sailed for America Dixon Kemp,
the eminent English designer Of yachts. told the
writer he convinced that, to get the best
results out of cutters, they ought to have more
beam, and that he had almost ceased to design
racing cutters because he didn't wish to be COM
PEELED TO conform TO artificial restrictions instead
of building according to his own Judgment.
Here the rules permitted much more expert
menting consequently much more progress has
been made. Yacht racing here is In much
healthier condition than in England. The inter
national yacht contests have produced five mag
niicent boats here, the Mayfower, Atlantic. Puri-
tan. Priscilla and the Volunteer. In England
they have led to the construction Of only one
new boat, the Thistle.
popularity of yacht racing In England is the
number Of yachts year after year that
participate In the big races. The production OF
an exceedingly fast boat instead of stimulating
competition had the reverse effect. The Miranda
almost put complete stop to schooner yacht
racing over there, simply because she outsailed
every schooner brought against her. Here she
was beaten but had she proved successful her
success would only have stimulated designers to
build boat that would beat her. In England
there arc only six seven boatS-often less-that
enter In the big races. 1t is an open question
whether the demonstrated superiority of the This
tie over other English boats, instead Of causing
rush emong yachtsmen to profit by her points and
build something to outsail her will not have an
reverse effect and cause a collapse Of
An Englishman readily ocquiesces
In beating when administered by countryman.
In England interest In yachting is confined
mainly to yachtsmen themselves; here 1t exists
among people who hardly know the difference
between bobstay and a main sheet, and have
no expectation of ever owning yacht. This
NAV he due In part to the fact that in England
the newspapers describe yacht races in dry,
technical fashion, that can interest only the
Initiated The difference in enthusiasm was recog-
nized by Captain Shaw, of the London Fire
Brigade, who here witnessed the races for the
Cup between the Mayaower and the
;alatea. at astonished me, he said, ito see
,ow widespread WINS the interest In the race
Tontain Shaw came over with the idea that the
Nayaower was "skimming-dish.' 1t says
,ometbin0 for his Judgment that after seeing
model of the MayHower showing how fine were
,er lines beneath the water line, he predicted
-. IL. Cali In, mr. l,anf hnr